TIP OF THE DAY: Frisée Salad With Lardons (Salade Frisée Aux Lardons)

One of our favorite salad greens, not served often enough in the U.S., is frisée (free-ZAY), curly endive that’s a member of the chicory family. In France, it is formally known as chicorée frisée. (See the different types of endive.) There are many ways to serve a salade frisée, but a universal favorite is frisée…
Continue reading “TIP OF THE DAY: Frisée Salad With Lardons (Salade Frisée Aux Lardons)”

The Difference Between Kefir & Buttermilk

“Kefir tastes like buttermilk,” writes a reader. “What’s the difference? Both are cultured beverages—meaning that probiotic bacteria cultures are added to ferment fresh milk. But the “recipes” differ significantly. For starters, kefir may contain a dozen or more different bacterial strains and yeast cultures; buttermilk typically contains only one probiotic strain: lactic acid bacteria. Kefir…
Continue reading “The Difference Between Kefir & Buttermilk”

TIP OF THE DAY: Pillow Pasta

Butternut squash ravioli. Photo courtesy Pom Wonderful. Here’s the recipe.   When studying culinary history, you learn lots of fun food facts. For example, in the history of pasta, Marco Polo may have brought pasta back from China—but it wasn’t spaghetti or other “long cut” pasta, and it wasn’t “short cut” pasta like farfalle (bowties)…
Continue reading “TIP OF THE DAY: Pillow Pasta”

TIP OF THE DAY: Try Arrope

Arrope syrup. There’s also an arrope preserve with pumpkin (see photo below). Photo courtesy Miel de Palma.   Arrope (ah-ROE-pay), a cooking and condiment syrup, is a product that few of us have in our kitchens. Yet, if you’re a serious cook (or eater), it’s an ingredient you should know about. If your parents are…
Continue reading “TIP OF THE DAY: Try Arrope”

TIP OF THE DAY: Popcorn Meat Loaf, A Healthier Meat Loaf Recipe

Here’s how to add fiber to a meatloaf and have fun with it. The recipe is courtesy Popcorn.org, the website of The Popcorn Board. Don’t expect pieces of popcorn popping up in the slices of meatloaf. The popcorn is ground in the food processor and used instead of breadcrumbs, which (unless they’re whole wheat breadcrumbs)…
Continue reading “TIP OF THE DAY: Popcorn Meat Loaf, A Healthier Meat Loaf Recipe”